I will be crowned king

After sending away the novelist who had caused him countless troubles, Anson finally breathed a sigh of relief and did not linger at the train station anymore; he turned around and left, stopped a taxi that happened to be passing by outside the station, and headed for his real destination today.

Temporary military camp of the Southern Legion.

This was originally the territory of the Guards. After it was forcibly disbanded by the Privy Council, almost all outposts and garrisons were placed under the name of the newly established Clovis Police Department. This well-equipped military barracks was also ceded to Ludwig's Thunderburg levy force has now become the temporary garrison of the Southern Army.

The facilities of the entire military camp are very complete. Not only is the camping area for soldiers and officers well-structured, but it also has standardized parapets, artillery forts, trenches and peripheral defenses. It is like a medium-sized semi-permanent fortress, which is spectacular.

The only fly in the ointment was that the gate of the military camp and several surrounding walls showed signs of being burned and damaged; after asking the sentry on guard a little, Anson learned that this was left on the day of the riot.

At that time, the vigorous riot had spread to most of the city, but the hundreds of Guardsmen left behind in the barracks were completely unaware of it. They did not even think of resisting until thousands of thugs poured into the barracks.

By the time Ludwig came with the levy troops, these hundreds of people were at the end of their rope and made their last resistance against the arsenal. Ludwig, who was blocked by the gate, thought it was troublesome, so he simply brought in artillery and blocked the gate directly. It exploded.

"But these bastards are pretty lucky. They have Major General Ludwig and us to help them clean up this mess. If the thugs take away the twenty-four-pound cannon in the arsenal again, they will have to do a 'bombardment of Oss' Telia Palace', that would be great fun, hahahahaha..."

The sentry looked gloating. It was easy to see from his hearty laughter how deeply these levied soldiers resented the Guardsmen who were able to dominate the rear without fighting. They simply wished they could be violent on the spot. shoot.

After passing through the main gate, what appeared in front of Anson was a quite wide square. Dozens of artillery pieces of various sizes and styles were arranged in several rows according to their respective models and categories; behind the artillery pieces were neatly arranged, Mountains of luggage boxes filled the square.

"After receiving the support of the Privy Council and the Army, and raising donations from many nobles and wealthy businessmen, the entire Southern Army has complete supplies and a sufficient budget. With the logistics that have been fully paid, it is enough for two to thirty thousand people to carry out a battle. A war that lasts for about three months to half a year!”

Almost as soon as he saw Anson coming in, the little clerk Alan Dawn, who had been waiting for a long time, immediately followed him, introducing Anson as he walked.

Although he was not an officer or even had a military background, Alan Dawn was appointed by Anson as his logistics director, responsible for all the income, expenditure and daily operations of his three infantry regiments.

This greatly moved the young clerk who had just experienced the "Drunken Incident at Lund Manor". He once thought that he would be driven back to the monastery, and he began to work overtime for the first time, working day and night with the quartermasters of the conscripted army. Take inventory of these supplies, which come from a variety of sources.

"The first is heavy weapons. The entire Southern Army has sixty cannons, including fifteen six-pound light field guns, twenty twelve-pound cannons, and twenty-five howitzers."

"These artillery pieces are divided into eight artillery companies, including three mounted artillery companies organized according to the imperial military system. They are equipped with a total of 400 heavy baggage carriages for transporting and loading ammunition; in the absence of logistics, the amount of ammunition Each gun can be supplied to fire three hundred and six rounds."

Anson nodded. Although it sounded a little exaggerated, for Ludwig, who was an artilleryman and had an almost blind superstition about artillery, this number was not surprising at all.

"Infantry equipment is relatively complex, including but not limited to rifles, uniforms, backpacks, additional weapons and spare tools, etc. However, it would be easier to calculate if integrated into individual equipment." The little secretary quickly flipped through the documents with a quick hand. So fast that afterimages appear:

"In addition to what was already available before the integration, Major General Ludwig purchased additional grenadier equipment for almost three infantry regiments, as well as a thousand new Borni rifles for arming skirmishers."

"Why the Bolney rifle?"

Anson looked confused. Although this gun was good, it was expensive to make. It was not cost-effective to use it as skirmisher equipment.

"Because the Borni family donated 15,000 gold coins in military expenses to the Southern Army, and it was in cash." The little secretary said truthfully:

"Then they also loaned 30,000 gold coins from Clovis Cathedral to expand production."

Anson: "...continue."

"There is nothing special to mention about the rest, including 20,000 tons of staple food, 20,000 tons of meat, 30,000 tons of canned food, drinks, and non-staple food, as well as spare uniforms, shirts, shoes and hats, which are used to pay the monthly salary of soldiers. cash box…”

The little secretary pointed to the pile of boxes not far away that filled half of the square and said: "All of them are investments and donations from the upper class to the Southern Legion."

"This is only the first batch. There are at least three or four batches of the same amount of supplies on the list; according to our calculations, the Southern Army will not need to mobilize supplies from the logistics supply line until Eagle Point City is captured."

Capture Eagle Point City...are the logistics supplies so abundant? !

Anson was dumbfounded in disbelief, but he was relieved when he thought that the entire Southern Army was a levy.

Unlike the kingdom's regular army, which has unified material deployment, the levy army is often used as cannon fodder in the Clovis military system to replenish numbers and emergency situations. Its logistics standards are very low and can only deal with very low-intensity battles. Sometimes the officers have to pay out of their own pockets to prevent the entire army from collapsing.

Accordingly, as compensation, any officer who paid to contract a levy, usually an infantry regiment, was given a high quota of the spoils of fire and, if sent to harass and pillage enemy territory, There is no need to turn in loot.

In other words, if the commander of a conscripted army can attract enough investment and control losses and casualties within a certain range, then not only will he not lose money, but he can even make a profit from the army he contracted. !

This is also the reason why the Southern Legion can receive so much investment... From top to bottom in the entire Kingdom of Clovis, no one would think that Ludwig would be defeated by the Yser Elf; the investment of tens of thousands of tons of materials has how? As long as we can capture Eagle Point City and sweep across the Southern Seven Cities Alliance, we will be rewarded by dozens or even dozens of times!

"Then how much of these supplies can we get?"

Looking at the supplies and equipment in front of him that were more than enough to arm 40,000 people, Anson asked a little excitedly.

"Uh... well..." the little secretary's expression suddenly stiffened:

"Basically... basically nothing."

"What?"

Anson was stunned for a moment: "What do you mean basically nothing?"

"That's me. All the supplies here are for Major General Ludwig and his troops, not for us."

The little clerk raised his right hand with some embarrassment and pointed forward: "The materials allocated to us are all in the warehouse opposite."

Suddenly feeling a bad premonition, Anson raised his head and looked in the direction he pointed: a small warehouse covered with moss appeared at the end of his sight, and it was covered with crows.

Anson, who had just become excited, gradually lost his smile.

……………………

"Don't blame Major General Ludwig. This matter probably has nothing to do with him."

In the musty warehouse, Carl Bain, who was sitting on the luggage box, comforted Anson in a tone that he didn't even believe.

Behind the two men was a warehouse full of supplies, ranging from rifles to all kinds of baggage, enough to supply three infantry regiments for one to two months.

If Anson had seen these supplies before, he might have been happy for a while. This time, he finally didn't deal with himself like he did at Thunder Castle; but after seeing the mountains of things in the military camp square, he couldn't laugh at all now. come out.

"Although the Army and various newspapers claim to have an army of 30,000, it is not difficult to find out the true strength and strategic deployment of the Southern Army with a few channels." Carl Bain explained matter-of-factly:

"In this case, those nobles and wealthy businessmen will definitely only invest in Major General Ludwig, who is in charge of the main battlefields; who would think that the money is too much to sponsor us who have to detour behind enemy lines and might be annihilated on the snowy mountains? Army!"

makes sense……

Anson nodded with a depressed look on his face, but still felt unwilling to do so: "Isn't there even one person willing to sponsor and invest in us?!"

"Hmm...wait a moment, I'll look for it."

Karl picked up the list and rummaged through it for a while, then his expression suddenly changed: "Ah, there really is one."

"Someone invested almost five thousand gold coins in our military expenses, plus a thousand sets of coats and boots!"

"Who is it?!" Anson's eyes lit up.

"Sofia Franz."

Carl Bain smiled even more happily than Anson: "Your investor and prospective fiancée!"

Anson Bach: "..."

Karl jumped down from the wooden box and kicked open the box on the ground skillfully, took out two bottles of rum, and threw one of them to Anson.

"To be honest, I really don't understand what you have to worry about." Karl took a sip directly into the bottle:

"That's the Archbishop's biological daughter! You worked as the leader of the security forces in the royal capital's cathedral for more than two months. You had countless opportunities to interact with her. Why didn't you..."

"How is the situation in the army?"

Before regretting bringing back this veteran scoundrel, Anson immediately changed the subject.

"Pretty good."

Carl Bain responded with "hehehe", with a meaningful smile on his face:

"Major General Ludwig was very generous this time and did not trick you. Although the two infantry regiments he sent are not the elite of the previous levy army - there seems to be no such thing as elites in our levy army - but they are relatively The troops are able to fight and are willing to obey orders, and the establishment can only be said to be roughly full."

"Including the storm regiment in your hand, our total strength here is almost more than 2,000, which is equivalent to one-quarter to one-fifth of the main force of the legion."

"The equipment is mainly 70% to 80% new Leopold and Leyden rifles, plus fifteen light artillery pieces - considering that we are also climbing over the Dawn Ice Peak, these artillery pieces are actually too much, so why not replace them with something more portable? Small arms and food are cheaper.”

Putting the wine bottle on the ground, Karl, who suddenly looked horrified, reminded him as if he was thinking of something:

"By the way, we need to quickly plan the next march route and logistical supply lines - although we are going south, Major General Ludwig's destination is Eagle Point City, and we have to climb the snow-capped mountains."

"What if the army completely prepared the supply line according to the main force of the Southern Army? Without logistics, more than two thousand of us would really starve to death on the snow-capped mountains!"

Yes, this is also a problem that needs to be solved as soon as possible... Anson sighed.

Because others have always been worried about this for me, I have never seriously considered this issue. In fact, for an army, the fiercest battle is not the most important thing. How to deploy an army when there is a lack of supplies? The most troublesome thing for all officers is to maintain strong vitality and combat effectiveness in areas with difficult terrain.

"Alan." Anson turned to look at his little secretary:

"Help me check what time Major General Ludwig is available tomorrow. I have to talk to him about the supply line."

Since he is the deputy commander of the Southern Army, he is still qualified to participate in the internal affairs of the Army despite serious water shortages. It is reasonable to discuss with the commander-in-chief to separate part of the logistics of the main force of the Army and establish a second supply line. matter.

"Major General Ludwig has already arranged for this to be given." The young secretary immediately said:

"There will be a banquet at the Osteria Palace tomorrow. The Major General said that he will discuss with you at the banquet how to communicate between the two armies and how to establish supply lines."

"Banquet, what banquet?"

Anson was confused. Why didn't he hear any news? And wouldn't the legion be officially leaving tomorrow?

"It is a farewell banquet prepared for Major General Ludwig. In addition to the royal family, the people present are all members of the Privy Council, high-ranking army officers, and many noble families."

The little clerk explained, inadvertently answering someone's question about why he didn't receive the invitation.

"The departure date has been rescheduled to the 15th, when there will be a royal exit ceremony - of course, only the major general himself plus two elite infantry regiments and artillery regiments will attend the ceremony. The rest of the troops will be waiting outside the city in advance. "

"What about us?"

"We were not mentioned in the notice." The little secretary shook his head:

"It probably means we can leave tomorrow or the day after tomorrow... Of course, this is just my guess."

There is really no concealment of differential treatment. Is this the difference between potential stocks and junk stocks? The corner of Anson's mouth twitched.

"Alan, I remember you said before that you were involved in the entire inventory of supplies, right?"

"Well, that's right."

The little clerk nodded and looked at Anson with a confused look on his face: "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just suddenly remembered that our Major General Ludwig seemed to have promised me something before..."

In the musty-smelling warehouse, the little clerk and Carl looked at the sudden meaningful smile on Anson's face with different expressions.

The only difference was that a certain experienced lieutenant was already used to this look.

Anson Bach, what on earth are you...

What bad idea did you come up with?